Subtracting Insult from Injury

Book excerpt: When a bear, eagle, whale, elephant, camel, and other creatures experience pain, they react sanely. Instead of getting hysterical, they find a safe, calm place to heal and be gently settled, which fosters their natural restorative, pain-relieving endorphins and potent immune stimulators to be released into their bloodstreams. Without a pharmacy, medical clinic, hospital, surgeon, or psychotherapist, they instinctively lay still and start to heal. Humans, on the other hand, add to their anguish by entering a fight, fright, or flight mode, which should only be reserved for life-or-death moments. We spook ourselves and compound the problem at hand by thinking things such as: Crap always happens to me. God must hate me. I bet this pain in my armpit is cancer. These pains will never go away. Im just a loser. If they force me into less pain meds, I cant make it. Break free from those thoughts and discover an endorphin paradise with the insights in this pain-relieving guide. Dr. Alan Cooper explores why humanity has lost its natural pain-abating ability and how trusting our gutsliterallycan help us overcome our fears, pains, and personal traumas to heal ourselves.